Molded indicia-bearing product and method of making the same



Aug.` l', 1944. J. A. Gns ETAL v 2,354,857

MOLDED INDICIA-BEARING PRODUCT AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME- Filedsep't.27. 1959 2 sheets-sheet 1 Aus. 1, 1944` J. A. Gus HAL 2,3.'=.4,zs57-MOLDED INDICIA-BEARING PRODUCT AND METHOD OF MAKING-SAMEv Filed sept.27, 1939 2 .sheets-sheet 2 Patented Aug. 1, 1944 UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE MOLDED INDICIA-BEARING PRODUCT AND METHOD F MAKING THE SAME 12Claims.

This invention relates to a new and novel type of molded product and tothe method of making the same.

More particularly, this new and novel type of product may serve as aname plate, an indiciabearing member, a dial, or like device to whichthe invention may novelly lend itself.

Such devices are usually made with indicia outlines and designs formedthereon by separate .operations and protrude from or lie flush with ithe front face. The essential consideration is to secure a pronouncedcontrast of the indicia so that it will stand out and therebyeffectively attract attention. Whether in relief, flush or recessed, theindicia and design are usually differently colored with respect to thebackground and made by separate molding operations.

An object of the present invention is to provide devices of thisv typeof essentially different construction, whereby the characters, design orindicia peculiarly stand out in very decided contrast and present anunique appearance not heretofore obtainable.

According to the teachings of this invention, the body is made oftransparent material and is adapted to be molded into any desirableform, the transparent material preferably being a plastic substance andprovided with recesses therein at its rear face, these recessesrepresenting the characters, design ,or indicia to be formed. By asimple coating operation, these characters, design or indici-a are thenmade to assume their distinct and independent form and made to appear toexist independently of the body but embedded within, having theappearance of being molded therein separately and being of diierentlycolored material, the effective contrast being very pronounced. A secondcoating may be applied upon the rear face, or otherwise provided, inorder to accentuate the contrast, this second coating serving, ineffect, as a background and causing the transparent body to becomesomewhat light reective which tends to make these characters, indicia ordesign more noticeable and attractive.

Certain variations of the invention may include making the characters,indicia or design slightly transparent in character by using a paint orL coating permitting the passage of light therethrough so that theseportions can be illuminated to stand out in a very novel manner againstan opaque background. A very pleasing and attractive appearance can beproduced through the transparent body when the'se portions are of dif-65 Fig. 14 is a section through a mold in which ferent colors and areilluminated. Also, the background may be transparent to the extent oftransmitting light therethrough and the characters or indicia may thenbe opaque so that further attractive combinations will be obtained thatemphasize thecharacters or indicia and produce an exceptionally noveldevice. y

Moreover, the invention is also directed to a device of this typewherein the indicia characters or letters, and possibly other portions,are formed' by a second molding operation of diii'erently coloredplastic material, and the remaining recesses are either treated in themanner above described or filled with materials producing the desiredeffect, in combination with the indicia, through the transparent body.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from thefollowing detailed description taken in connection with theacco'mpanying drawings which form a part thereof.

In the drawings: v

Figure 1 is a front elevation 0f a device embodying the presentinvention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the device;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 1 butshowing the recesses before they are coated:

Fig. 4 is a similar view illustrating all other recesses covered vby astencil while the indicia recesses are being coated;

Fig. 5 is a similar view illustrating the second coating applied to therear face and all the recesses;

Fig. -6 is a view slightly in perspective of the device to illustratehow the indicia and other outlines or designs provided will normallyappear in the nished articie;

Fig. '7 is ahdetail view of the device looking at its rear face whencovered with a stencil during the coating operation of the indiciarecesses;

Fig. 8 is a view similar to Fig. 1, but illustrating another form ofdevice embodying the invention;

Fig. 9 is a transverse section taken on line 9-9 of Fig. 8; l l

Fig. 10 is a view similar to Fig. 9, but illustrating a modifledstructure;

Fig. 11 is a view of a slightly modified form of the invention;

Fig. 12 is a vertical transverse section of the device shown in Fig. 11;

Fig. 13 is a transverse section of the same device-after the rst moldingoperation; and

2 this device has been `placed'for a secondmolding operation;

" The device chosen to illustrate the invention being molded in theshape of a body desirable for an article to be made may be used.

In the molding operation, recesses are formed in body I inwardly fromrear face A2. The extent of these recesses, their shape and their depthdepend upon the lindicia to be formed, or the design to be made, eitherin conjunction with the indicia or alone. The term designf as usedherein, may include scroll work of different formations, or relativelyiiat .-areas, of various colors to form fanciful patterns, either to beused with indicia or alone, but mainly in connection with name plates orthe like.

In Fig. 1, the medallion is Vshown with indicia 3 and a design orpattern 4. Indicia 3 may be a trade name or other characters like thatshown at I. As illustrated in Figs. 1 to 6, inclusive, indicia 3 and 5are `formed by recesses 8 and 1, while design or scroll 4 is formed byrecesses 4'. 'I'hese recesses may be formed in a single moldingoperation of body I.

The walls of recesses 6 and] are`then sprayed with a material 8 thatmaybe opaque and of a given color. A stencil 8 is placed'over face 2 andheld in position upon mounting pins III formed upon body I, these pinsbeing used as a means and causing unnecessary waste of materialandlabor. I

It will be understood that recesses 'I may be provided with a coating ofa diilerent color than the coating for the walls of recesses Ii. 'I'hismay be done by employing separate stencils for the spraying operation ofeach set of recesses. yAfter coating 8 is thoroughly dried, a secondcoating face 2 and is allowed to cover the walls of recesses 4', as wellas the material 8 upon the walls .of recesses 6 and 1 that have alreadybeen coated. The second coating is then allowed to dry thoroughly. Thesecond coating thus acts as a background and may be seen through thefront face I2 of body I everywhere except at those recesses 6 and 1 thatwe irst provided with coating 8.

To illustrate the contrast that may be effectively provided for indicia,such as 3 and 5 with respect to the design designated broadly as 4 andthe background surface constituting rear face 2, coating 8 may be abrilliant red and coating II may be an aluminum paint which will providea very desirable contrast and still reect sumcient light to cause theindicia to stand out in relief in an embedded relation in transparentbody I. The reilection of light both from front I I is applied byspraying across the entire rear face I2 and the coating II upon rearface 2 tends 7g assess?- to emphasize the indicia and make it appear asi! separately formed but molded in this transparent body I. this result.

The device shown in Figs. 1A to 7, the process used to produce theindicia and ornamental'.

scroll work are particularly novel. l Spraying material I upon the wallsoi recesses l .and 1 and using stencil l to protect recesses 4 and rearvmaterials in a simple and inexpensive manner to produce the effectsdesired, namely, the tor- ,mation of indicia and like characters inboldrelief within transparent body I ina way to produce the effect thatsuch indicia and characters have been molded within by separateoperations.

Hence, not only has a new product been produced but also a novel processdevisedthat ef)- ilciently and economically produces this new product.

The new product is designed to make it appear' Apattern I 8 representingin general the pointer of a dial. 'I'he walls of recesses I5 are coveredwith a material I9' of a given color and preferably opaque ortranslucent. Material I9 may be sumciently transparent in regard to thepassage of light that the rays of a lamp in back of body I5 may betransmitted therethrough to provide an illuminated pointer. AA coating20, preferably opaque, may then be applied to rear face I1 and materialI9 upon the Walls of recesses I6, but only upon the rear face I1, asshown in Fig. 10, if material I 9 is to permit light to be transmittedtherethrough to provide an illuminated pointer I I. Likewise, a-verynovel effect can be obtained if material I9 is opaque and backgroundcoating 20 isv somewhat transparent to permit light to passtherethrough. y In either case. pointer I8 will very novelly stand outand readily be seen.

A still further embodiment or extension of the invention is shown inFigs. 11 to 13, inclusive. Body 25 is likewise formed of transparentplastic material having a series of recesses 26 and 21, recesses 28representing the characters of indicia 3 and 5, and recesses 21representing the scroll work 4, these recesses being preferably formedin and during the molding of body 25. The article as it appearsv afterthe nrst molding is shown in Fig. 13. It may then be placed in diemembers 2l and 29 and material 3l) injected through pessages 3|, or inany suitable manner, into all recesses 26 or any number of them to formindicia I or indicia 5, or both, in a single or multiple operationwhereby indicia 3 and 6 may be of material of the same or differentcolor. That is to say, the word Motorol may be of the same or dierentcolor as the word Model and the number "9-69." Recesses 21 may then becoated with a material 32 of a given color that provides the properbackground. In the same manner as shown in Fig. 9, material 32 may betransparent to the extent of permitting the transmission ofl'hedesign4slsotendstoaddtov light therethrough while indicia material Imay be opaque. Thus, the background will be illuminated and may be of acolorthat will contrast with the indicia which will emphasize the reliefeffect of the indicia and make the latter stand out very effectively. Onthe other hand, the indicia material may be transparent to theextent ofpermitting the passage of light whileI material I2 may be opaque. Thus,the indicia only will be illuminated and, if they are of different'colors, a

- very effective and fascinating display will be proplastic transparentmaterial having inwardly ex- -tending lrecesses of substantial depthhaving side walls substantially normal to their bases and conforming insize and shape to predetermined indicia or design to be displayedthrough said transparent body at its front face, a material of apredetermined color and light transmitting capacity upon the walls ofsaid recesses to distinctly characterize said indicia or design, and asecond material of a predetermined color for said rear face thereafterembedded in' said structure, independently of said rear surface.

.5. An article of the character describedcom prising, a moldedtransparent structure composed of a synthetic resinous condensationproduct having the propertyv of setting without becoming fragile, formedwith a convex front face, an opaque rear face, and a series of recessesof subs tantial depth having side walls substantially normal to .theirbases, the surfaces' of said recesses being distinctively coated andbeing visible from said front face and forming a series of sharplydefined characters having the appearance of being preformed andthereafter embedded in said structure, certain of said coated surfacesforming front faces for said characters that ife substantially parallelto said convex front face.

6. An article of the character described, comprising, a moldedtransparent structure composed of a synthetic resinous condensationproduct having the property of setting without becoming fragile, formedwith a convex fronty face, 4a -Y rear face, and a series of recesses ofsubtantial depth having side walls substantially normal to their bases,the surfaces of said recesses being distinctively coated and beingvisible'from said front face and forminga series of sharply g definedcharacters having the appearance of being preformed and thereafterembedded in said structure.

7. An article of the character described, comprising a moldedtransparent structure formed with a convex front face, a rear face, anda series to provide a background uponwhich said indicia or design isdisplayed through said transparent body, said second material beingrelatively opaque to prevent the passage of light therethrough,

of recesses of substantial depth having side walls substantially normalto their bases, the surfaces of said recesses being distinctively coatedand being visible from said front face and forming a 2. An article ofthe class described, a body of cesses to distinctly characterize saidindicia or l design, and a second material of a predetermined color forsaid rear face to provide a background upon which said indicia or designis displayed through said transparent body, one of said materialsbeingnpaque relative to the other material, the other said materialhaving a predetermined light transmitting capacity.

3. An article of the character described, comprising, amolded'transparent structure formed with a series of inwardly extendingrecesses of substantial depth having side walls substantially normal totheir bases, the surfaces of said recesses being distinctively coatedand being visible from-a front face thereof to'forrn a series of sharplydefined characters having the appearance of being separately preformedand thereafter embedded in said structure.

4. An article of the character described, comprising, a moldedtransparent structure composed of a synthetic resinous condensationproduct hav- A ing the property of setting without becoming 'throughwhich said coated surfaces appear to f orm a series of sharply definedcharacters having the appearance of being separately preformed and 76series of sharply defined characters having the appearance of beingpreformed and thereafter embedded in said structure, certain of saidcoated surfaces' forming front faces for said characters that liesubstantially parallel to said convex front face.

8. In the molding of an article of the character described oftransparent plastic material composed of a synthetic resinouscondensation product to form a transparent structure having sharplydefined characters appearing as being preformed and thereafter embeddedin relief within said transparent structure, the process of injecting ina single operation the material in a plastic condition into a moldcavity to form said transparent structure with a series of recessesextending ysubstantially perpendicular to a rear face thereof, removingsaid transparent structure from said mold cavity after the materialsets, applying material of a predetermined color only to said recesses,and applying material of another color to said rear face. 9. In themolding of an article of the character described of transparent plasticmaterial composed of a synthetic resinous condensation product to form atransparent structure having sharply defined characters appearing asbeing preformed and thereafter embedded in relief within saidtransparent structure, the process of injecting in a single operationthe material in a plastic condition into a mold cavity to form saidtransparent structure with a series of character recesses extendinginwardly from a rear face thereof, removing said transparent structurefrom said mold cavity after the material sets, spraying said recesseswith a material of a predetermined color, allowing. said material todry, and thereafter spraying a material of another color upon said rearface.

a body of transparent plastic having a smoothly curved convex front faceand having a vdesign formed by recesses in its rear face, and a coatingot opaque material applied to the walls of the recesses, the bottoms ofsaid design-forming recesses being`\located farther from the rear faceof the article than is the boundary of said curved convex front face,

11. An article of the class described, comprising 1o. An article ci theclass described, comprising 1 assess? faceslbetween the recess walls`and they coating a body of vtransparent plastic having a smoothly curvedconvex front face and having a design formed by molded recesses in itsrear face, and a coating of opaque material applied to the walls of therecesses, the side Walls of said recesses meeting the rear face of saidbodysin well dened edges, the said design-forming recesses being `disposed substantially entirely in front of the boundary of said convexfront face whereby the inter- Vnold. cavity in a single operation thematerial in a plastic condition into said transparent structure with aseries of recesses extending inwardly from a rear face thereof, removingsaid transparent structure from said mold cavity after the materialsets, and applying material of a predetermined color to the walls ofsaid recesses.

JOSEPH A. GITS, JULES P. GITS.

